Florida Teachers Union Hiked Its Payroll Past $13 Million

While the Florida Education Association says it's standing up for "the children," its Tallahassee-based bureaucracy has been fattening up.

Employee compensation at the FEA rose 7 percent from 2009 to 2010 (the latest year for which figures were available). A total of $13,251,879 was spread among 81 FEA employees (down one position from the year before).

That averages out to $163,603 per union functionary -- more than four times the average salary of classroom teachers the FEA purports to represent.

Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, which compiled a state-by-state analysis, said, "If the union's pension investments go bad in a particular year, they have to cover the shortfall from its general fund."

There's already a bit of a disconnect on the FEA ledger. As the union bemoaned teacher "layoffs" and paid their brass more, the union's revenues inched up 1.1 percent to $30,903,657 in 2010.